Diabetics and other related types of diseased patients often suffer from sores, ulcers, and other symptoms of diseases that affect extremities such as the foot and other areas of the human body. Such patients often have loss of sensation, limited mobility, and decreased vision, all of which impairs their ability to monitor the condition of the skin using current technologies, especially on parts of the body that are hard to reach or view, but also on more accessible areas, such as the plantar surfaces of their feet. As such, preventing ulcers, sores and the like, or catching the presence of the same early can improve treatment outcomes and reduce the need for extreme interventions, such as amputations, thereby both resulting in improved quality of life of patients and reduced medical costs.
Heretofore, approaches for evaluating the bottom of the feet for persons at risk of tissue breakdown have been limited in various ways. One known approach relates to the provision of a small mirror (approximate 3 inches in diameter) on the end of a long handle which would be used by the patient to inspect the bottom of their foot for indications of skin breakdown, whereupon they would call their podiatrist and schedule an appointment for a physical examination. However, this system does not offer a medical provider with images, such that any assessment is made without the aid of a professional review, something which is especially problematic for someone with limited vision (e.g., especially from, say, diabetic retinopathy) given that such persons cannot readily discern the smaller, earlier signs of tissue breakdown. A similar system might involve use of a digital camera on the end of a flexible handle to aid in visualizing one's own skin for signs of pressure sores, and could possibly be made to send images to clinicians for telemedical evaluation or screening. Such a system, however, has several drawbacks, including the need for the camera and feet to remain stable during imaging.
A more advanced system has been developed in the Netherlands whereby users can image the soles of their feet, use a digital camera to image the soles of both feet, and automatically transmit the images to clinicians for evaluation. The system is contained within a box that reduces background light and uses LEDs to illuminate the feet for consistent lighting. This system, in addition to being expensive (and therefore being unlikely to receive extensive distribution as a home screening tool) utilizes horizontal bars for situation of the feet during picture acquisition, and these bars partially obstruct the full view of the feet. Furthermore, this system does not appear to show the image to the patient.
Other types of foot and skin screening for diabetics are known in the art and often take the form of simple systems wherein a user can have pictures or the like taken of his feet while in a standing position. One such approach involves a system that allows patients to stand on a glass platform that scans an image of the plantar surface of the feet and provides this image of the same. The major drawback of this system is that the plantar tissues are pressed against the glass, thereby producing artifacts that can be misinterpreted as callous tissue, or which obscures the visualization of the earliest signs of skin breakdown (e.g. redness).
It is therefore, unknown in the art to provide a system for foot and other skin screening for diabetics where the user does not stand, or otherwise have his feet or other skin surface area compressed against a support structure or platen. It is therefore a further problem in the art to provide screening method that does not compromise the image of the foot or other skin surface by compression on the skin, or in a foot, the plantar surface thereof, thereby leading to artifacts or other distortions that will be present on the image of the plantar surface as a result of such compression. It is a further problem to provide a system that offers portable home screening that can interface electronically for telemedicine approaches without the need of personal assistance or extensive equipment. It is yet another problem in the prior art to provide a system that offers real time feedback to a user of the image being taken, so that he can review the results personally and also ensure that a treating physician can receive optimized images remotely, prior to transmission thereof. It is further a problem that none of the previous systems allows clear and direct visualization of the sides (inner and outer) of the feet, which are very common sites of damage.